MUSCAT: Oman plans to develop a major gas-fired independent power project with a generation capacity of 800 megawatts in Muscat region to meet the growing demand for electricity, said a senior official of Oman Power and Water Procurement (OPWP) Company. Eng. Yaqoob bin Saif Al Kiyumi, chief operating officer of OPWP, said that his company has already started ground work for the project, which will be developed by an independent power producer. “We will start prequalification before the end of this year and the project will be in Muscat,” he said, adding that the plan is to start operation by 2021.
Oman’s average annual growth in power demand for the next five years within the areas of main inter-connected system (MIS) is projected at 10 per cent to 5,023 megawatt in 2020, according to a seven-year outlook for power demand released by Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) a couple of years ago.
However, peak demand growth, under the demand forecast, is expected at about 11 per cent per annum, from 4,455 megawatt in 2013 to 9,133 megawatt in 2020. The Muscat project is going to commence operation after two major independent power projects — Sohar3 and Ibri — that are under development start generation in January and April 2019, respectively. A Mitsui-led consortium is building the two independent gas-fired combined cycle power plants, with a combined generation capacity of 3,150 megawatts (MW) – 1,450 MW in Ibri and a 1,700 MW capacity in Sohar 3.
